shouldnt they play anything thats old and good?
why do they only play 2 different marvin gaye songs?
why only 2 different al green songs?
ive never heard jerry butler on the old school station
do listeners only want to hear the most popular songs?

why do old school (classic) Rock radio stations play the same ol shit?

due to the corniness of some of that "classic rock"

though I hate the old school R&B station even more because obviously as a black dude due to my parents I have heard them more....and they haven't changed after all these years hahaha. I don't know why they can't have a larger rotation. like....SO MUCH GOOD/classic soul/r&b has come up and yall can't expand.....come on.....

It's rare for mainstream radio stations to get deep with what they play. Look at someone like Bill Withers. Lucky if you hear anything outside of "Ain't No Sunshine", "Lean On Me", and "Use Me". It's all based on what was the most successful on the pop chart, and to me it's a disgrace because while having chart divisions is a bit pointless, it did show what audiences really liked. Yet for the most part, even if it's an R&B station, you're going to hear it cater to the pop chart, rarely the R&B chart.

It is that familiarity that keeps listeners listening, and a willingness to wait for something they are familiar with. Waiting means sitting through 5 to 11 minutes of ads, which equals survival for most mainstream radio stations. Even if you turn to another station, that station will also have a commercial break, and partly because that station, and the other five you turn to, are owned by the same company. It's all programmed to the minute detail. With Earth, Wind & Fire, I know I'm going to get the hits. If I want to hear "Happy Feeling", "Evil", "Build A Nest", or "Be Ever Wonderful", it'll be quicker if I hook up my iPod. The radio industry knows this, that not everyone has gone digital and if you're stuck with radio, your opinions do not exist.

Same with rock. You're going to always hear Cheap Trick's "Surrender", "Dream Police", "I Want You To Want Me (Live)", and "The Flame", but will you hear "Clock Strikes Ten", "Heaven Tonight", or "Up The Creek", or "She's Tight"? Unless it's a rock station with actual DJ's that care, absolutely not. Seeking a personality that still plays great music on the radio is like seeking a personality that still has a personality. If you have access to satellite radio, trust them. If you have apps, use that. Sadly, radio holds true to the phrase "you get what you pay for", and it suffers because of it.


Then again, you can also hold a bit of faith to who owns the station, who is the programming director, and who has knowledge of what music works. However, most radio stations are owned by someone not in your city or state, the programming director is a random box in Denver or Miami, and a database determines what is heard. That has been in effect since the mid-1970's, to find a way to eliminate the program director so that his own choices aren't used. Regional airplay almost doesn't exist, so if I were to drive to Denver, or Austin, or Cambridge, or whatever, I'm going to hear the exact same 100 songs on each station. When it comes to Pop radio, that's how songs become gigantic hits for two months. The lack of variety and diversity limits what becomes a hit, which is why Katy Perry and Pink can seen massive when in truth they eliminated the competition, so that no one else can have even a minor hit. Fortunately, there is a thing called YouTube which is able to persuade some to listen to something else, but when you have companies paying for fake hits, it's hard to tell what the public really wants when the industry is based on what you should be hearing, so they can give you more commercials.


Years ago, there was a study on what made a hit in the United States and England, and why the type of artists that became famous were so different. It was regional tastes and interests. A lot of times, a one-off novelty hit could have massive success in England, even if it lasted for a week or two. The U.S. was based on the important hits, and maybe a novelty here and there. That changed in the last 15 years, and one can argue much of today's pop music in the U.S. are on the level of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" or "White & Nerdy". People seem to be happy with having a laugh, long enough to where they'll be interested for two weeks, only to realize "why was this funny? Why am I listening to this?" Then they can get their check for $2.75 from Spotify.

A lot of today's pop is very bland, too much sameness. That's why turning to a country station as a diversion is interesting, because they're making decent pop that I might forget the moment I shut off the car, but I was more entertained than hearing someone scream their lungs out, gasp for air, and try to entice me to go to iTunes to buy their song. Listening to something "other than" pop comes off as if you're the enemy of the state, and I think c'mon, it's fucking music.






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These are the songs that are in rotation across the country now.

...what radio used to be - could be - like.

and airybody else).


peace & blessings,

x.

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>do listeners only want to hear the most popular songs?

i think most listeners only want to hear those most popular songs.

here in Chicago we used to have Herb Kent spin R&B oldies ('dusties') on Sunday afternoons. great DJ - he'd often play deep cuts from legendary catalogs. and one-hit wonders who'd been left off playlists from other oldies stations. but he also played the oldie hits too. i dunno if he's still on b/c i don't listen to radio. but i got much of my R&B history education from listening to his show in the 90s. it's awesome. i think he's still at it.

bottom line its about the hits and control over the radio and also don't act like Pop radio and other radio formats of 2013 don't stick into one certain format and play only the same 12 songs every hour on the hour.

radio been like that for almost 30 years where you heard pretty much the same 12 songs, now if you had a radio station outlet that thought outside the box then you caught a break, however more often than not, you were stuck with what you had unless you avoided radio or had a alternative.

It's just kind of weird that radio stations that pride themselves on playing old music, you would think they would have a big range of songs by any artist of the genre of music they play but like you said, they usually just play the one or two biggest hits by that artist everytime, they hardly ever venture outside of that artist's discography which is a damn shame if you ask me.

What really pisses me off is how the r&b/soul/old school rap stations, when they do play rap music it's always certain big charted rap songs from '80-'83 & '89-93 which seems weird.

WHUR I think does a good job of mixing up the playlist.(Granted during the day they keep the new stuff in rotation). And during the quiet storm they will really dig deep. I hear a lotta old stuff for the first time on there. They went to satellite radio a while back maybe u can pick it up.

they dig deep most of the time and play some very good rarities

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

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